Hi all, I’ve been threatening to make an appearance on here for some time now and thought that on the day of her 50^th birthday I’d ask Julie if she’s like me to give her a day off, or to be honest she asked me.

Nothing I can say today will live up to the 953 days Julie has been writing but I’ll do my best not to bore you.

First thing this morning she was giggling away, my first words to her we ‘Roses are Red, Violets are nifty, I’m 47 and you’ve just turned 50!) So glad she didn’t just slap me, lol.

So, plans for today, for her big FIVE O?  Up early ish to make a nice but simple breakfast, some nice coffee along with some toasted scones with raw honeycomb and raspberry conserve. Nothing too filling as we’re heading out for lunch later.

Present time! She always tells me not to go overboard so I’ve reigned it in a little this year, she’ll still be happy, I hope. Loads of things she wanted topped with a wee trip to Iceland next year, including a 7-step ritual spa at the geothermal Sky Lagoon near Reykjavik.  (Although there is a cracking chocolate factory that I’ve got my eyes on too).

I walked the dogs while she went to get her nails painted.

Next is out for lunch to Bueno Onda in Largs then back home for a 30-minute rest (we’re not getting any younger) before going to friends for a few drinks before Julie heads out tonight their daughters dance performance with the young farmers at Centrestage in Kilmarnock.  What will I do?  Well, I guess I’ll write this…

Sooo, this winging it writing malarkey is harder than it looks. Guess I’ll just tell you a bit about Me and Jules.

So, we met way back in July 2007, almost didn’t as she was flying on holiday a fortnight before from Glasgow Airport on the day of the Terrorist attack, thankfully she was no where near the incident.  For the next few years, we spent every chance we could together and married in 2010. After only the first few weeks together we knew the wedding was always going to happen. Aw, mooshy mooshy.

We’ve lived in Kilmarnock, East Kilbride (twice) and finally settled in our small village of Gateside in North Ayrshire back in 2015. We couldn’t be happier, its quiet, community led, supportive and we’ve made some really great friends. Had more than few great holidays and along came our three pups which I’m certain you’ve all had way too many pictures of of the years.

Here’s one of Jules doing our very own ‘Hot Wings’ challenge, never again!!!!!

Almost 13 years later we’ve been through some amazing times, but as with all great relationships there have been some storms, but absolutely nothing we couldn’t navigate our way through.

Here is one of our first photos together, loves young dream.

Followed by a more recent effort, she hasn’t changed a bit, wish I could say the same.

We like looking for songs that mean something to us, always looking for our next ‘our song’, not to worry, I won’t bore you with a list of lyrics but if you were at all interested, I’ve made a wee playlist of some of our favorites over the years on Spottily, here’s a link to the public playlist.

It would be remiss of me to not mention a little about the past few years and one of the reasons this blog exists.

Anyone who’s been reading ‘The Rambling Sloth’ over the past few years will have a good idea of what Julie’s been through, it’s been hard for her but the one thing that’s kept her going through it all is the support shown by her family and friends both near and far, old, and new.  For that, we will both be eternally grateful.

She battled against what sometimes seemed impossible challenges through mental health (which she has openly documented on this blog) but fought every doubt, every negative thought and every obstacle thrown at her. Even though it was easier to give in, she fought tooth and nail and she won, she won every time! And she continues to win every day!

She is a fighter and one of the strongest people I know, I have no idea if I could have defeated the darkness she found herself drowning in but she kept finding the light and reaching for it.

I couldn’t be prouder of her for all she has and all that she’s going to achieve.

Happy Birthday Julie, we’re going to have a great weekend.

Finally I had to share. We loved these T-shirts from a comedy morning radio show in the US we used to listen to daily. “Quitters never give up”, How very true…strange, but true.

(Hmmm, maybe I’ll blog again, this was fun)